The West Indies in 1837 : being the journal of a visit to Antigua, Montserrat, Dominica, St. Lucia, Barbadoes, and Jamaica; undertaken for the purpose of ascertaining the actual condition of the Negro population of those islands / By Joseph Sturge and Thomas Harvey.

  • Joseph Sturge
Date:
1838
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The West Indies in 1837 : being the journal of a visit to Antigua, Montserrat, Dominica, St. Lucia, Barbadoes, and Jamaica; undertaken for the purpose of ascertaining the actual condition of the Negro population of those islands / By Joseph Sturge and Thomas Harvey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    little property. Who will dare to deny that they are fit for free- dom? and, if so, on what principle has the proprietor of Arcadia continued to retain them as slaves, profiting by their uncompen- sated labor? An examination of the practical conduct of the proprietor of Arcadia, has brought us to conclusions equally painful. We will consider his statements seriatim. He denies, however, the right of any one ‘to intrude into his private affairs.”’* We disclaim any such intention; and in our turn deny, that the interests of the Slave Population of our Colonies, are the private concerns of any individual proprietor. Charges contained in the 4. S. Reporter, quoted from the “* Letter to Thomas Wilson, Hsq.:’’ with observations thereon :— I.—‘‘‘ Above all,”’ itis alleged, ‘“‘he might have provided religious instruction; though to this hour nothing effective, we fear, has been done for that paramount object.’ I ask the reader of my evidence, whether there be any plea, however futile, for such an insinuation ? Does it not hold out, as plainly as possible, that Mr. Knipp had been engaged as a religious instructor, and that I then was ready to renew the engagement if he had found it expedient to return to Jamaica? ”’ At the time the attorney of Arcadia gave Mr. Kniss leave to go upon that estate and instruct the negros, he expressly forbade him to teach a single slave to read or write; and when J. Vinz first went to reside on Arcadia, he found only one slave who could read. II.—‘‘ ‘Mr. H. might have had, at least, an elementary school on his estate; he might have founda man and his wife competent to the task, &c., uponit. Had I told the Committee, ‘even when urged,’ all I had done, they would have known that, as such persons could not be obtained of the Baptist Society, I had applied to the Moravian Committee in London, for a resident instructor and his wife, and that if such persons are no¢ on the estate it is only because I could not obtain them.”’ It is extraordinary that such persons could not be found, seeing the numbers who have subsequently been engaged under similar circumstances; but experience has shown that had such individuals been sent out, their efforts would have been successfully obstructed by the attorney of Arcadia. III.—‘‘‘ Did he wish to rescue his slaves from all necessity of Sunday labor?’ Yes; he did: and it was among the first and chief things pressed upon the attention of the attorney on the estate; and further urged in the personal intercourse I had with him in London, just before the late insurrection, which has put every thing, for the present, out of course.” See the remarks on No. 4. * ] require them to show what right the constitution of their own, or of any public iustitution, gave them to intrude into my private affairs, and found charges against me of having violated my own principles in the management of my property? ’ Letter to Thomas Wiison, Esq.